Shako

“ His lower lip trembled as he added: “She died, sir—and I was just broke over it.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Shafto. “Well, such things have happened before.”
“It was like this, sir,” now turning and fixing a pair of tragic dark eyes on his companion, “I was engaged to be married—same as yourself. She was the daughter of a sergeant in the arsenal in Madras; her father and mine were old friends, and when mine was killed in Afghanistan, me mother just dwindled away and broke her heart. Sergeant Fairon and his wife was real good to me and took me home ”

“ They were a couple of raw new ponies, come down out of last drove, and unused to trams and motors, and frightened dancing mad; only for you heading them off, we were all as dead as mutton.”
“But how did you get into the Burmese priesthood?” inquired Shafto with abrupt irrelevance.
“It was like this, sorr, I’m country-born; me father was a sergeant in the Irish Rifles, me mother was a half-caste—an Anglo-Indian from Ceylon—so I’m half Irish, quarter Cingalese. I was left an orphan when I was seven years old and educated at the Lawrence Asylum. I always had a wonderful twist for languages ”

“ This is a queer country; the people are terribly superstitious and weak in themselves, on account of nats and bad spirits.”
“Oh, that I can believe,” replied Shafto; “your pals in the gharry could tell you something about bad spirits.”
“Wait now and I’ll explain,” said the pongye, with an intimate gesture of his great bony hand.
“Sometimes I’ve a sort of ache to be mixing up with European soldiers—even if it’s only for a couple of hours.” After a pause he added in a thoughtful tone, “For ye see I was wance a soldier meself.” ”

“ The men love him; though he has some funny fads, never touches meat, and sings queer outlandish chants; but he’s the splendid sort of fellow who was born for this war; full of heroic qualities and as hard as a bag of nails. I suppose his regiment was in Rangoon.”
“Not in my time,” replied Shafto. He hesitated for a moment, and then added, “If I were to tell you how I came across that Irish sergeant-major you’d say I was pulling your leg.”
“Oh, go on, then—pull away.”
“When I first met him he was a Burmese priest, with a shorn head, yellow robe, and begging-bowl.” ”

“ Shall we make Sacho king?"
"Yes, yes!" they all cried.
"But I do not wish to be king," replied Sacho. "A king is a useless sort of person who merely issues orders for others to carry out. I want to be busy and useful. Whoever is king will need a good attendant as well as an officer who will see that his commands are obeyed. I am used to such duties, having served Zog in this same way."
"Who, then, has the time to rule over us?" asked Agga-Groo, the goldsmith.
"It seems to me that Cap'n Joe is the proper person for king," replied Sacho. ”

“ She looked with all her sight, intensely, as if in that one look she would draw the very essence of Chako into her consciousness, there to keep it forever.
She was reassured by what she saw. Chako was drunk, but his soul had not abdicated. There was no sag in him. Drink only made him more scornful and reckless. He was as dandified as usual, with his broad-brimmed hat jauntily askew. A painful weight seemed to lift from Ann's breast.
“Maybe he is a savage,” she thought, “but he's a glorious savage! What is life for but to spend? He makes all other men look like domestic fowls. ”

“ They went soberly up over the rocks behind the shack, up to the top of the cliffs, and through the pines. The spot Chako had chosen was beside the little stream, where it plunged over into the lake. The body was already in place, and covered with stones. Chako waved his hand over the prospect—the green-blue lake like a peacock's breast, the bare, heaven-mounting heights full of lights and shades like beaver fur.
“He has a fine outlook,” he said. “I hope I may get a grave like his! It's fine to be buried alone and far off from people!”
“Alone!” Ann thought with a sad heart. ”

“ Then the man who called himself Shabako deliberately cuffed his prisoner on the cheek. "Blasphemer!" he roared. "To claim the powers of the gods! Thou shall die for that! Yea, the ice entrapped me when I was about to slay the guilty Inaros—but our mighty god Aten restored me to life! Enough! The priests shall deal with thee!"
He jerked the trembling girl to Craig's side, and with a prick of his sword in their backs made them go forward. The American was too bewildered to think evenly. Why, the god Aten was the Sun God!—the divinity Egypt worshipped in five hun [26] dred B.C.? ”

“ Chako said nothing at the moment, though his face was black with rage. When he rose, he observed:
“If you gorge yourself now, you'll only have to go hungry later. I'm not going to leave here until I find what I'm looking for.”
“You're mad!” said Ann.
“Sure,” he said. “It's great to be crazy!”
“What good will it do you if you haven't strength enough to carry it out?”
“Oh, finding it will give me plenty of strength,” said Chako, with the smile of one possessed. “I'm going to take to-morrow off to hunt. There are ptarmigan on the mountain, and I might get a shot at a goat.” ”

“ Chaka looked at me strangely. “Thou art a bold man who darest to speak thus to me, Mopo,” he said. “Dost thou not know that it is sacrilege to touch an Isanusi?”
“I speak that which is in the king’s mind,” I answered. “Hearken, O king! It is indeed sacrilege to touch a true Isanusi, but what if the Isanusi be a liar? What if he smell out falsely, bringing those to death who are innocent of evil? Is it then sacrilege to bring him to that end which he has given to many another? Say, O king!”
“Good words!” answered Chaka. “Now tell me, son of Makedama, how may this matter be put to proof?” ”

“ One evening the latter beckoned to Shafto to dismount, and, leading him apart, assured him that he was creeping on at last. “As soon as I know what I think I know, I’ll send you a bit of a chit. It’s an awful traffic, this infernal trade, now I’ve seen into it, cheek by jowl; these drugs is worse and crueller than wild animals, and we can’t kill them.”
“No, worse luck!” assented Shafto; “they kill us. I say, Mung Baw, don’t your friends in the monastery wonder why I so often ride round this way and look you up?” ”

“ Now he hunts no more, no more shall Groan-Maker be aloft; it is a woman’s kiss he craves, not the touch of your rough tongue, it is a woman’s hand he holds, not the smooth haft of horn, he, who of all men, was the fiercest and the first; for this last shame has overtaken him. Surely Chaka was a great king though an evil, and he showed his greatness when he forbade marriage to the warriors, marriage that makes the heart soft and turns blood to water. ”

“ Think you'd be safe with Chako?”
“Why not?” said Ann.
“It's lucky you have me to advise you, said Cal dryly. “I've knowed Chako Lyllac since he first come up here, eight years ago—1903 it was, I mind. Ever seen a Great Dane pup? That was Chako. He has growed some. I got a soft spot for the kid. They don't turn out many like that nowadays; but he's a savage—as wild as a lynx or an eagle. Knows no law but his own instincts. A woman might as well commit suicide as trust herself to him. He has no feelings.” ”

“ Praise to Aten!"
Wesley Craig smiled wryly. He could hardly credit the Kundrenaline's power in wiping twenty years away; but it was evidently true. Shabako, he saw, really believed the superstition-conceived story he had just spun, so—now what?
The High Priest was staring at him malevolently, his slanted eyes fastened on his garb of furs. His weedy voice pierced through the echoes.
"O divine Shabako," he questioned shrilly, "who is this stranger?"
The Pharaoh's glance was contemptuous. "A blasphemer," he said harshly. "One who dares claim—"
But Wes had understood the question. ”

“ Shafto stared for a moment, then he said:
“By George! I do know him—though I can hardly believe my eyes. I’ll go and speak to him and find out what this means,” and he hurried away below.
“Hullo, Mung Baw!” he exclaimed. “Say, this is something like a surprise! What are you doing here?”
“Much the same as yourself, sir. The Tug of War is drawing us all home. I have left Mung Baw and the yellow robe behind me, and I’m now Corporal Michael Ryan. I’m going into the Army again. Why, I’m only thirty-four when all’s said and done. ”

“ In reply to Shafto’s exclamation he added: “His father was the officer I told you about, who was so terribly worried by the plays. This chap was erratic, but a clever fellow and great at languages; he passed into the Woods and Forests out here, and enjoyed the wild jungle life for a good many years; now you see what he is—a wild man of the bazaars.”
“But I say, Roscoe; can you do nothing?”
“Absolutely nothing; a cocaine case is hopeless. Opium you might tackle; the other is beyond the power of man or woman.” ”

“ I enjoy being fascinated and I like honey! She is very amusing and dances like a moonbeam. Those are two coffee planters, wonderful pals and bridge players, and here comes a strange lady, probably a tourist—rich too.”
Shafto looked and saw a handsome grey-haired woman, with a round smiling face, wearing a long sable coat and an air of complacent prosperity.
“Why, for a wonder I know her!” he declared. “It’s Mrs. Milward. Her sister was our neighbour at home; I’ve met her often.”
“Who is she?”
“A widow—very rich, I believe. I think her daughter is married to a man in India—or Burma.” ”

“ She glanced at Chako again. He was looking over her head at his course downstream. A slight change of expression when Ann looked at. him showed that he was aware of her glance, but his gaze never deviated. His eyes were narrowed, and hard as a wolf's. In his hate and hardness, he was still splendid to look at; yet beauty was truth, and truth beauty!
How strange that a man should be so bent on killing that which loved him best! ”

“ I came nearer, and took its hand as it hung on Mabruki’s shoulder. The muscles, gradually contracting in death, made it seem as if there was a gentle pressure of my palm, and then — the thing died.
Life left it so suddenly that we could not believe that all was over. But the Soko was really dead, and close to where he lay I had him buried.
“Master said he wanted the Soko’s skin,” said Shumari, in a weak voice, reminding me of my words of a few days before.
“No, no,” I said; “bury the wild man quickly. We shall march at once.” ”

“ All the slaves of Zog, hundreds in number, were assembled in the room; while standing before the throne formerly occupied by the wicked magician was the boy Sacho, who was just beginning to make a speech to his fellow slaves.
"At one time or another," he said, "all of us were born upon the earth and lived in the thin air; but now we are all living as the fishes live, and our home is in the water of the ocean. ”

“ XXIII As long as they stayed in Joe Maury's winter camp, Ann occupied the shack at night, and Chako slept outside. There was nothing in the way of a bed or a hammock for her, but the earth floor was no harder than the earth outside, on which she had slept for many a night now, and it was a comfort to sleep within walls, rude as they were. They shut out the presence of the vast stillness.
She awakened with a painful foreboding in her breast. Her love was not destined to be a happy one. ”

“ Time to die when the voice of Chaka spoke my doom. Death chooses for himself and answers no questions; he is a guest to whom none need open the door of his hut, for when he wills he can pass through the thatch like air. Not yet would I taste of that medicine of mine.
So I lived on, my father, and the soldiers led me back to the kraal of Chaka. Now when we came to the kraal it was night, for the sun had sunk as we passed through the gates. Still, as he had been commanded, the captain of those who watched me went in before the king and told him that I lay without in bonds. ”

“ At first these strange pictures may even seem mirth-provoking to the spectator—a view of them which he will remember in later years with almost incredulous wonder. To overcome one's original feeling of repulsion may take a long time; but to every serious student of Japanese prints there comes at last a day when he sees these portraits with different eyes; and suddenly the consciousness is born in him that Sharaku stands on the highest level of genius, in a greatness unique, sublime, and appalling. ”

“ Chaka stood over her—she knew him by his likeness to Dingaan—and threatened her with a little, red-handled spear, asking her how she dared to sit upon the throne of the Spirit of his nation. She began to tell him her story, but as she spoke the wide receding walls of that grey hall fell apart and crumbled, and amidst a mighty laughter the great-eyed Shapes rebuilt them to the fashion of the cave in the mound beneath the tree of the dwarf-folk. The sound of the trumpets died away, the shrill, sweet music of the spheres grew far and faint. ”

“ I would be main sorry to see you mixed up with one of these young devils—for I know you are a straight-living gentleman.”
“There is not the smallest chance of my being what you call ‘mixed up’ with any young devil,” said Shafto in a sulky voice. “As for Ma Chit—she is not the sort you suppose.”
“Oh, may be not,” rejoined the pongye in a dubious tone. “Still, I know Burma—lock, stock and barrel, and a sight better nor you. Av course, I never spake to a woman and give them all a wide berth—but I cannot keep me ears shut. Listen to me, sir. These young torments have no scruple. ”

“ Maitland, wife of the General Commanding in Burma, and the one with her must be her sister, or sister-in-law. Here comes the great Otto Bernhard, junior partner in the house of Bernhard Brothers; as you see, a fine, handsome man, with the most All Highest moustache; and also owns a heavenly tenor voice—but I would not trust him farther than I could throw him!”
“And that would not be far,” said Shafto; “he weighs every ounce of fourteen stone.”
“Yes, a big man in every way, trades on his voice and his good looks, as well as in teak and paddy—an unscrupulous devil where women are concerned ”